There’s a trend bubbling up in restaurant kitchens, and this time it’s got nothing to do with small plates. “Chefcore”, as coined by the menswear writer Clayton Chambers, has chefs ditching their traditional formal whites for a more casual aesthetic.
For a long time, no one cared what chefs wore, either inside or outside the kitchen. However, thanks to TV shows such as The Bear – where Carmy’s (Jeremy Allen White) perfect white T-shirt gained a cult following and (spoiler alert!) he gives protege Sydney a custom Thom Browne chef’s jacket – customers are as keen to know the brand of clothes a chef is wearing as they are the specials.
Look around your favourite eatery and you’re likely to spot that stiff, long-sleeved jackets have been replaced by Carmy-esque biceps-grazing T-shirts while torque hats have been ousted by baseball caps.
It’s a trend that is heating up in front of the pass, too. London’s celebrated nose-to-tail restaurant St John recently swapped its front-of-house formal whites for laid-back corduroy tailoring, teaming up with the Savile Row tailor Drake’s on a clothing collection.
At Osip, a farm-to-table
